Conducting research online has changed the way we peruse information, but it's not exactly conducive to multitasking when you're flipping between windows. Between the word processor and the page you're citing, sometimes things can get a little convoluted. Fortunately, the folks at Google Docs have come up with a nifty way to do all of your research in the same window that you're typing in.
There are two ways that you can open the research tool pane. The first way is by pressing Command + Option + R on your Mac’s keyboard. Alternatively, you can open the pane by navigating to Tools > Research. You can also begin a specific search by right-clicking on a word in your document and then clicking “Research” in the contextual menu.
You can do a web search by typing in a search term in the text box, and then selecting the “Everything” option from the drop-down menu in the search text box.
You will be presented with quotes, followed by quick facts, followed by a “Web results” section. In this section, you will get the top results in a small, text-only preview area. Clicking the title of the site will open a new browser tab (or window) with the clicked website. Mousing over the search result and clicking “Preview.”
Back in the research tool, you can copy and paste directly from the search results, but Google doesn’t want you to get into trouble for not citing your sources.
There’s also a built-in citation tool. Simply position your insertion cursor in the document, and then mouse over the search result, and click on the Cite button. A superscript auto-number will automatically appear on the page at your insertion point, ready for you to type in the information about the source. You can also click on the Insert Link button to have a titled link inserted to the web page in the search results.
By using the drop-down menu in the search text box to select “Images,” you will only see image results in the research tool. You can drag and drop any of the images from the search results into your Google document. A numbered superscript citation will automatically be inserted after the image, ready for you to cite the source of the image.
You can also search for quotes directly from within the research tool. Click “Quotes” from the drop-down menu in the search text box to begin your quote search. We found that sometimes the quotes feature doesn’t work well, or retrieve a significant number of quotes.
When you mouse over the quote in the search results, you can click on the Insert button to have the quote and author automatically inserted for you into your document.
When you clear the search results, you will have access to a single setting. You can choose to show results that are “Free to use, share, or modify, even commercially,” or go with the standard “Not filtered by license” option.
Cory Bohon is a freelance technology writer, indie Mac and iOS developer, and amateur photographer. Follow this article's author, Cory Bohon on Twitter.
marnipatterson
June 29, 2012 at 10:08pm
I saw the article about how to research with Google Docs in the last issue. I'd like to try it, but the directions you provided in the article don't work.
draccy
May 17, 2012 at 2:28pm
I guess it's research... sort of. But it really waters down the idea of what research is. Research requires a little bit of strategy and forethought, and some good resources -- not just what Google happens to throw back at you. I'd say, rather than research, this is the equivalent of "quick reference" -- you know, like those books libraries used to keep handy right there in the reference section. (I say "used to" because most of that material is going digital -- but not all of it is freely accessible without a subscription. Yay, libraries!)
Old Unix Guy
May 17, 2012 at 11:16am
So Google wants to see everything you type and everything you search for and click on all in one convenient place, huh? Well, I'm absolutely certain that the ONLY reason why they want that is to make it convenient for the user. They couldn't possibly have any other motives, especially - dare I say it - evil ones for doing so...
Kevin
